The Life and Times of Lisa Turpin, Ordinary Witch
by Beware of the Nargles
Summary: Lisa Turpin starts Hogwarts at the same time as the trio. She is an ordinary 11 year old half - blood witch who wants a more interesting life. And she is about to get it... Please read...and REVIEW!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! It's me again, with my 4****th**** fic now. I really don't know why I even started this, but I couldn't think of who to do a fanfic about so I chose a name from the sorting in Philosopher's Stone and that resulted in the beginning of Lisa Turpin, an Ordinary Witch. **

**Disclaimer: Of course I am not Jo Rowling and Harry Potter, Hogwarts and everything else belongs to her. Even the names Lisa Turpin and Sally-Anne Perks belong to her. **

**Also Sophie's World is a wonderful philosophical book by Jostein Gaarder, and I just included the title.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. R&R!**

**The Life and Times of Lisa Turpin, an Ordinary Witch**

"Hurry up, Lisa! You'll be late for the train!"

This is how my life as a witch began. I received my letter informing me that I was enrolled in Hogwarts. I knew all about Hogwarts and was looking forward to going. My mother, a muggle, didn't want me to learn there until my father, your average wizard, explained everything about Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and how great it was. He told her about all the wonderful things I'd learn, and a lot of waffle about how useful it would be to have me trained as a witch. I knew Dad was going to persuade Mum to let me go, so I was busy adding a few last things to my trunk, my hairbrush, my favourite book "_Sophie's World_" and some freshly ironed underwear.

"Now come on then, Lisa!" Dad was shouting at me, as I tugged my trunk down the stairs and hurled it in the boot of the black Honda. "I'm ready!" I cried, just wanting to get in the car and relax for a while as we drove to King's Cross station.

When we got there, it was a real rush. I had just two minutes before eleven o'clock when the Hogwarts Express left. I anxiously pushed my trolley against the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. I heard my mother's gasp faintly – she's never seen platform 9 and ¾.

I gave my Mum and Dad a last hug and peck on the cheek, and climbed aboard the scarlet steam engine, amid a sea of teenagers. There was a puff of steam from the train and we were off! Finally I was going to do something interesting, something I had never done in my 11 long, boring years of life.

I sat down in an empty compartment, my barn owl Sophie (after Sophie in _Sophie's world_) beside me, hooting excitedly in her cage. I ran my fingers through my ordinary shoulder-length straight brown hair and sighed. I so wished I was pretty, that I had beautiful curly hair and twinkling blue eyes. But as I gazed out of the window, I saw my own plain brown eyes reflected in the glass, looking back at me.

Just then, in walked my best friend-to-be, a bubbly girl with greyish green eyes and short blonde hair that curled nicely around her face. I made a face. She was small and sweet, whereas I was tall and average in everything else.

"Hello," I said warily, eyeing this girl in an unfriendly way. (I don't actually know why I wasn't nice to her right at the beginning, but I guess I didn't feel like making space for anyone else in my life, after saying goodbye to Melissa, who I'd been friends with since starting nursery.)

"Hi," she replied in a soft voice that really suited her. "Do you mind if I sit here? I'm Sally-Anne Perks by the way. What's your name?"

At first I just grunted, but then I felt it was only polite to answer, so I said, "I'm Lisa, Lisa Turpin."

She began to chat animatedly to me, asking questions all the time,

"I was so glad to find out that I was a witch! Weren't you?"

"Well, my father is a wizard, so I kind of knew already. My mother is a muggle though, but I guess she's got used to magic happening all the time."

"Which house do you think you'll be in?" I said. That was the first question I had thought of all train ride. She had poured out everything about herself already in an attempt to get me to talk.

"Which house? Well, I don't know anything about the houses…so-"

"There are 4 houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin." I launched into an explanation of the Hogwarts Houses and the Sorting. "Gryffindor is for people who are brave and stuff, Ravenclaw sounds good, but it's for intelligent and witty people, not like me. Hufflepuff is for hard-working, kind, loyal people, and I don't think I really qualify for that – I'm a lazy-"

"And what about Slytherin?" Sally-Anne interrupted. "What is Slytherin like?"

"It's supposed to be evil. This really bad wizard, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, was in Slytherin…so now people in Slytherin are known to be horrible. I don't really know though…"

We lapsed into silence for the last part of the journey, changing into our brand new robes. By then, certain rumours had reached us that someone special was on the train – that special someone being Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived and defeated You-Know-Who and all that stuff. Frankly, I didn't really care. As long as You-Know-Who wasn't bothering me, I thought, _who cares? I'm fine at the moment thanks._

So that was basically my first train ride to Hogwarts. Different, but my future adventurous life I was looking forward to was only just beginning.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the next chapter and as I didn't get any reviews for the first, I am hoping for a reasonable amount of comments, good or bad. I can't be that awful!!!**

The tall stone towers of Hogwarts castle were only just visible in the already dark sky twinkling with stars. I admit, I gasped in awe when I saw the castle in its glory, with lights beaming out from in the windows and the forest's treetops swaying spookily in the chilly breeze. It was beautiful. If I could have, I would have stood there for an age, taking in all the wonders of Hogwarts and its grounds.

But, as it was, I ended up dawdling behind the mass of anxious first years following the giant by the name of Hagrid, who had a tangled mess of hair and beard and was wearing a heavy moleskin overcoat, shouting, "Firs' years! C'mon, this way!"

The little wooden boats each adorned with a small glowing lantern rose on the black lake and under Hagrid's supervision, everyone climbed into them.

Sally-Anne and I clambered into a boat with two boys, one a tall guy with a mop of blond hair, the other a scrawny but sly looking boy called Nott, I think.

Experiencing the thrill of gliding across the lake was somewhat punctured by little thoughts in my head. _You're going to be rubbish, _they said_. Absolutely rubbish. You've grown up with a wizard for a father and don't know a single spell. How lame is that? Even the muggle-borns who didn't even know magic existed will be better than _you_. And which House could you possibly be in? You don't have any qualities at all___**I can** **read,** I retorted to myself. **I'm a really fast reader. I've read books on Philosophy at the age of 11. That's an achievement. I could make Ravenclaw…** _No you couldn't. Magic isn't Philosophy. It's not about reading fast. It's about doing magic._

"WELL, MAYBE I CAN DO MAGIC!" I screamed. I get so worked up about things; they slip out of my head and into my mouth. Then, right out of it for everyone to hear.

I could practically see myself going the colour of a beetroot. It's not even _red_. It's PURPLE. I'm so weird.

"Having doubts about yourself?" The blond boy said sympathetically. He wasn't laughing at me, but I could see a half-amused, half nervous-on-the-verge-of-being-sick smile playing on his face. I nodded. Sally-Anne squeezed my hand.

"You'll be alright. Just you see." The blond boy said. I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. "You will." He replied, noticing I was unconvinced. "Everyone will be just fine. Want to bet?"

I just kept looking at him. He had nice eyes; warm, friendly bluish eyes.

But then, the conversation ended abruptly. The boats had stopped.

**We had arrived at Hogwarts Castle. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: So far no one is reading this and I hope they will. I will just keep hoping someone will stumble across this fic and enjoy it; so I will keep posting.**

**Btw, so it doesn't get boring for all HP fans, I'm not going to go through all the Hogwarts procedures and Harry's adventures. I will go through Lisa's interesting moments in her Hogwarts years. **

"_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

There was applause as the ragged old Hat finished his strange song. The severe woman – Professor McGonagall – unrolled a very long piece of parchment which had all the first years' names on it.

"Abbot, Hannah!" She called and the blonde girl with pigtails hurried off to one of the tables when the hat bellowed, "HUFFLEPUFF!" Susan Bones did the same.

Next was, "Boot, Terry!" and the tall blond guy from the boats winked straight at me as he self-assuredly sat down on the stool with the oversized hat on his head.

"RAVENCLAW!"

He got into Ravenclaw! Oh my gosh, I thought. I really, really, really want to get into Ravenclaw now!

I'm not sure I wanted to be in Ravenclaw because it sounded the best in my opinion, even though I convinced myself of that immediately. No, I think it was definitely to do with Terry. But why? I mean, he's nice, and he is a great friend now, but then he was basically a strange boy who had seen me screaming to myself. God, I wonder what he thought of me then?! What does he think of me now?

Anyway, I waited and waited… "Perks, Sally-Anne….Hufflepuff!" I cheered and clapped the loudest of the room as Sally-Anne waved nervously from the Hufflepuff table. She was sitting next to Susan Bones.

Then it was the famous Potter. He got into the brave lot of Gryffindors. He looked really frightened, in my opinion. He didn't seem to know anything about Hogwarts at all. Oh, of course, he grew up with his muggle relations. I forgot. (I read about him in a book.)

"Turpin, Lisa!"

I jumped, startled at the mention of my name, wildly turning my head to the empty stool and worn, frayed hat. It was finally my turn. I cautiously made my way over and sat down with an unintentional thud. McGonagall, looking almost bored to death in a strict sort of way, placed the hat on my head. I bit my lip, unsure of what to expect. Then a little voice in my head said to me, "Why hello! Such a encouraging mind, it's all there, motivation, determination, incentive and a lovely thoughtfulness. Well, it's tricky, Slytherin or Ravenclaw, I suppose. You have a lot of potential, but what are you going to do with it? I'll let you decide, after all, it is your fate I'm deciding…what'll it be? Aha! RAVENCLAW!"

Yes! I leaped up with a huge beam on my face, so relieved. I rushed to the table and sat opposite that boy, Terry Boot, who looked at me, satisfied. A moment before he said it, I knew he remembered our little bet about everyone 'being just fine'. "

Well, I really hate to say I told you so, so I won't say that, but you're alright. And we're in Ravenclaw!" He genuinely smiled at me, but our conversation was discontinued as the headmaster began the feast. Plates and plates of delicious food appeared and everyone tucked in.


End file.
